Adjustable shelf bracket



May 7, 1957 R. JAslN 2,791,479

ADJUSTABLE SHELF BRACKET oer? Jaaz'n BY f ATTORNEYS May 7, 1957 R. JASN 2,791,479

ADJUSTABLE SHELF' BRACKET Filed April 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 :a g3 INVENTOR g 36 3g *78W f 27 BY Y 70/ 37 A ze J6' ADJUSTABLE SHELF BRACKET Robert JaSn, South Haven, Mich.

Application April 18, 1955, Serial No. 501,889

8 Claims. (Cl. S12-351) This invention relates to a new and improved cabinet for use in kitchens or elsewhere.

One object of the invention is to provide a new and improved cabinet in which the front and rear edge portions of the end walls have novel reinforcing structures which embody vertical flanges having vertically spaced openings to receive supporting elements for adjustably mounting a shelf.

Another object is to provide the shelf with novel supporting elements to engage the aforesaid openings to mount said shelf at any required elevation.

Yet another object is to embody at least the foremost of the aforesaid openings in the form of horizontal notches, and to provide pivoted latch members on the front corner portions of the shelf, said latch members having forwardly projecting shelf-supporting fingers normally received in two of said notches but readily swingable therefrom to permit shelf adjustment.

A further object is to provide novel latch members hav.

ing forwardly movable releasing handles under the shelf` and located rearwardly of the front edge of the latter, whereby a person may place the heel portions of his hands against said shelf edge, engage his fingers with said handles and simply close the hands somewhat to release said latch members.

A still further object is to provide a simple and inexpensive construction for the latch members to facilitate mounting of said members on the shelf and to also facilitate the association of springs with said members for biasing them to operative position.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide novel means for relatively bracing the top and end walls of the cabinet.

With the above and other objects in view that will become apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel form, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawing and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation, partly broken away, and in section;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view substantially on line 2 2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal sectional view on line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on line 4 4 of Figs. l, 2, and 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view similar to the lower left portion of Fig. 2, part of the shelf being broken away, however, to show the latch member; and

Fig. 6 is a detail vertical sectional view on line 6 6 of Fig. 5.

The drawings illustrate the preferred construction of the invention and while that construction will be rather specifically described, it is to be understood that variations may well be made.

The cabinet embodies two sheet metal end walls 10, a sheet metal top 11, a sheet metal bottom 12 and a sheet metal shelf 13, all of these elements being so formed as to have adequate rigidity. The cabinet is shown as having an open front but a door or doors could of course be provided if desired. Also, while no back wall has been nited States Patent a 21,791,479 ce Patented May 7, 1957 shown, it will be understood that one could be provided if preferred.

Each end wall 10 is provided with reinforced front and rear edge portions 14 which not only impart rigidity to said end walls where required but embody vertical members upon which to adjustably mount the shelf 13.

Each reinforced edge portion 14 comprises one vertical flange 15 bent laterally inward from the end wall 10, a second vertical flange 16 bent laterally inward from the inner edge of the flange 15 and disposed in spaced parallel relation with said end wall 10, and a shelf-supporting flange 17 bent laterally outward from the inner edge of the flange 16 and extending toward said end wall 10.

This shelf-supporting flange 17 terminates in inwardly4 spaced relation with the end wall 10 and is formed with vertically spaced notches 18 which open toward said end wall. The flanges 15 and 16 constitute a return-bend on the edge of the end wall 10, which return-bend carries the shelf-supporting flange 17, and all of these flanges coact in giving necessary rigidity to said end wall without requiring other reinforcing means.

Provision is made for rigidly connecting and relatively bracing the end walls 10 and top plate 11 to impart further rigidity to the cabinet. The ends of the top plate 11 have downturned flanges 19, the rear edge of said top plate has a downturned flange 20 and the front edge of said top plate has a similar flange 21. The flanges 19 lit against the outer sides of the end walls 10, the end portions of the rear flange 2t) are secured at 22 against the rearmost of the flanges 15, and the end portions of the front flange 21 lie against the front sides of the foremost of said flanges 15. This front flange 21 has a rearwardly offset lower edge portion 23 which is secured at 24 to two bracing plates 25, these plates being secured at 26 to the upper ends of the foremost of the shelf-supporting flanges 17. v While the present drawings show the brace plates 25 as applied to the front corners of the cabinet, they can be applied to all four corners if maximum rigidity is desired.

Each bracing plate 25 is disposed in a vertical plane and is of inverted L-shape. The horizontally extending portion 2'7 of the plate 25 has a straight upper edge 28 contacting with the lower side of the top plate 11, and the downwardly projecting portion 29 of said plate 25 has a straight outer edge 30 contacting with the inner side of the end wall 10. The offset lower edge portion 23 of the front flange 21 is secured at 24 to the horizontally extending plate portion 27 and the downwardly extending plate portion 29 is secured as at 26 to the shelf-supporting flange 17. Thus, very rigidly braced upper corners are provided for the cabinet.

The cabinet bottom 12 has downturned longitudinal flanges 31 and end flanges 32, said flanges 31 being secured at 31a to the lower ends of the shelf-supporting flanges 17, while the flanges 32 abut the end walls 10.

The edges of the shelf 13 are turned downwardly at 33 and then inwardly at 34 to form reinforcing flanges. At the rear corner portions of the shelf 13 supporting fingers 35 (Figs. 2 and 4) are welded or otherwise secured to the lower side of said shelf, said fingers projecting rearwardly through openings in the rearmost of the flanges 33. Under the front corner portions of Ithe shelf 13, there are two pivoted latch members 36 (Figs. 2, 5, and 6), said latch members having shelf-supporting ngers 37 which project forwardly through slots 38 in `the foremost of the flanges 33. The rear fingers 35 are position (.full lines in Fig.`-5) and is provided with a releasing handle 39fbymcans of -which-it may be swung to the releasedv position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. The handle 39 Ventends longitudinally of the shelf 13 rcarwardlyofthe frontedge of -said shelf, and said handle is within `easy rreachof the lingers of one hand when the heel-portion of the latter is placed against said front edge of the shelf. Thus, byfplacing the heel portion of one handagainst the frontedge of the shelf, engaging the lingers with the handle39 and closing the hand some what, the latch member 36 may be easily released.

When the two latch members 36 are released, one with each hand, the shelf 13 may be tilted upwardly or downwardly to withdraw the-rear lingers 35 from their receiving'notches 18. The shelf may then be raised or lowered to another position and the lingers 3S engaged with other notches. Then, the'shelf is restored' to horizontal position"Vr and the handles 39 released, allowing the front lingers 37 to enter the cooperating notches 18, under the influence of the spring hereinafter described.

Each latch member 36 is preferably constructed and mounted as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. A horizontal plate 40 is provided, preferably of triangular form, said plate 4i) having a pivot stud-receiving opening 41 and an arcuate slot 42` concentric with said opening.` The plate 40 rigidly carries the linger 37 and handle 39 and these elements 37 and 39 are preferably formed by the ends of a rod 43 which is bent into angular form and welded to said plate 40.

A pivot stud 44 is secured to the shelf 13 and projects downwardly through the opening 41, and a second stud 45 is secured to said shelf and projects downwardly through the arcuate slot 42. The lower end of the pivot stud t4 is provided with a head or other means 46 providing an upwardly facing abutment, and a coiled torsion spring 47 surrounds said stud 44 between said abutment and the plate ft-0. This spring 47 has one arm 48 hooked at 49 to the linger 37, and another arm 50 which reacts against the stud 4S. The spring thus yieldably holds the latch member 36 in operative position.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that a novel and advantageous construction has been provided for attain ing the desired ends, and while there is herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

lV claim:

1. A rectangular cabinet having two end walls, each end wall of said cabinet having reinforced front and rear edge portions, cach ofV said reinforced edge portions comprising one vertical flange projecting laterally inward from the end wall, a second vertical flange projecting inwardly from the inner edge` of said one flange and disposed in substantially parallel relation with said end wall, and a vertical shelf-supporting flange projecting from the inner edge of said second flange toward said end wall, at least the shelf-,supporting flange at the front of the cabinet terminating in spaced relation with the end wall and having vertically spaced notches opening toward said end wall, the rear shelf-supporting flange being formed with vertically spaced openings, and a shelf having two rear Supporting lingers received respectively in one of the vertically spaced openings of the two rear shelf-supporting flanges, said shelf also having two pivotally mounted supporting lingers received respectively in one of the notches of the two shelf-supporting anges at the front of the cabinet, said pivotally mounted fingers being swingable from said notches towards said end wall when the shelf is to be adjusted.

2. A structure as specified in claim l; said one flange being integral with said end wall, said second flange being integral with said one ange, said shelf-supporting liange being integral with said second flange.

3. Adjustable shelving comprising a shelf, means for adjustably supporting the rear portion of said shelf, hor zontally swingable latch members pivotally mounted on the front corner portions of said shelf, said latch members each having a linger projecting forwardly from said shelf, vertical shelf supports having notches receiving the two lingers respectively, said lingers beingv swingable from said notches when said latch members are u'ally swung in one direction, and spring means b latch members in the other direction.

4. A structure as specified in claim 3; each latch l ber having a releasing handle spaced longitudinally of the shelf from the pivot of said latch member, said releasing handle being spaced rearwardly from the froft edge of the shelf and being movable forwardly to releaase the latch member.

5. A rectangular shelf having supporting elements at its rear corners, horizontally swingable latch elements pivotally mounted on the front corner portions of said shelf, said latch members each having a shelf supporting finger projecting forwardly from the shelf, each latch member also having a releasing handle spaced longitudinally of the shelf from the pivot of said member, said handle being spaced inwardly from the front edge of said shelf and being movable forwardly to move the latch member in releasing direc-tion, spring means biasing each latch member in the opposite direction, the front edge of said shelf having a downwardly projecting longitudinal flange, said flange having slots through which said fingers of lthe two latch members extend.

6. A rectangular shelf having supporting elements at its rear corners, horizontally swingable latch elements pivotally mounted on the front corner portions of said shelf, said latch members each having a shelf supporting finger projecting forwardly from the shelf, each latch member also having a releasing handle spaced longitudinally of the shelf from the pivot of said member, said handle being spaced inwardly from the front edge of said shelf and being movable forwardly to move the latch member in releasing direction, spring means biasing each latch member in the opposite direction, each of said latch members being disposed against the lower side of said shelf, both said linger and said handle being downwardly offset from said lower side of the shelf, the front edge of said shelf being provided with a downwardly projecting longitudinal ange, said flange having slots through which said lingers of the two latch members extend.

7. In adjustable shelving, a shelf, a latch member under one front corner portion of said shelf, said latch member comprising a horizontal plate, a shelf-supporting linger projecting forwardly from said plate and projecting forwardly beyond the front edge of said shelf, and a handle projecting from said plate, said linger and handle being angularly related with each other, said plate having a pivot stud-receiving opening and an arcuate slot concentric with said opening, a pivot stud secured to said shelf and projecting downwardly through said opening to pivotally mount said latch member, the lower end of said pivot stud having an upwardly facing abutment underlying said plate, a second stud secured 'to said shelf and projecting downwardly through said arcuate slot, and a spring under said plate for moving said latch member to operative position, said spring acting on said latch member and reacting on said second stud.

8. A structure as specied in claim 7; said spring having a coil and two arms projecting from opposite ends of said coil, one of said arms being operatively connected with said latch member, the other of said arms being engaged with said second stud.

Referencesl Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,782,344 Gourley Nov. 18, 1930 

